Community mourns baby killed in West New York accident

It was “not only because she was perfectly beautiful on the outside,” the Rev. Peter Ahn said at a prayer vigil Sunday in North Bergen for the 8-month-old, who was killed during a bizarre bus accident.

Rather, Ahn said, it was “because this little girl had strength and energy to live her life that oftentimes would shame many of us in the room. Her smile would bring life to people, and, though she was too young to talk, she often shouted with her smile.”

She also arrived at the perfect time. When her parents, Maylin Hago Paredes and Jairo Paredes of North Bergen, learned they were having a baby, Jairo was still coping with the death of his beloved grandmother. The couple named their baby Angelie, derived from the grandmother’s name.

“She brought so much hope, joy and peace to not only her parents, but her grandparents, her aunts, uncles and her friends,” Ahn said. “She was indeed perfect.”

Hundreds of mourners lined Kennedy Boulevard to pay respects to Angelie, who was killed last Tuesday in West New York when a commuter bus driver allegedly talking on a cellphone drove into a light pole, which toppled onto the baby’s stroller.

“All the training and the schooling that we go through to prepare for this business, all of that goes right out the window when you see parents facing this kind of horrific situation,” said Robert Vainieri, director of the funeral home where the vigil was held. “All you can do is make sure that the parents are comfortable and at ease. I am not here as a funeral director today. I am here as a parent and as a member of the community who mourns with them.”

Angelie, whose funeral is this morning, lay in a white coffin. Photo collages from her short life were arranged on poster boards among dozens of floral sprays that framed the casket.

“She is like a little angel. It’s like she was sleeping,” said Johanner Romero of West New York, a family friend who lives near the scene of the crash and was among the first to respond.

The child’s parents stood nearby, hugging and clinging to well-wishers. Quick hugs among family members devolved into sobs as they asked in English and Spanish the simple question for which no one had an answer: Why?

Ahn, lead pastor of Metro Community Church in Englewood, addressed the question during a brief prayer service, but said it was an impossible one to answer.

“Why did she have to die, now, like this, too soon?” he asked. “As a pastor, I must confess that I have asked that question more than once, and I have to confess to you I have no answer. To be truly honest, I asked God, why couldn’t he have stopped this. I know he doesn’t intervene all the time. She was 8 months old. He could have this one time.”

Police say Idowu Daramola, 48, was talking on a cellphone Tuesday afternoon when his commuter bus hit a light pole, causing it to topple over and hit and kill the baby. Seven other people were injured in the chain reaction triggered by the crash, in which the bus also hit a tree, another lamppost and a parked car, which then hit three other cars.

Daramola was charged with death by auto, reckless driving and using a cellphone while operating a vehicle. He is being held on $250,000 bail.

On Sunday, Ahn told those in the chapel that they should focus on the brief life Angelie lived and not on her death.

In a sermon based heavily on “A Time for Everything” from the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes, Ahn told mourners that it was a time to remember, grieve and heal.

“It is a time of grieving,” he said. “It’s time for remembering, it’s a time for healing, for putting our faith in God, and most of all, it is a time for love.”

He said Angelie lived her life to the fullest, something he hoped would serve as an inspiration.

Mourners walked through a lobby filled with flowers and pictures of Angelie, a cherubic-faced girl with piercing deep, dark eyes. In one photo, she wore a pink cap turned sideways and a blue top with ruffles near the neck, and staring intently at the camera. Other displays showed her with her parents: with her mother on a beach, being cradled in the arms of her father.

Ramon Che Rios, 41, of Franklin Park said he has known Jairo Paredes since 1992 when they were students at Rutgers University.

“Nobody deserves to have something like this happen to them, nobody,” said Rios, the father of a 23-month-old daughter.

“Tragedies happen when people use cellphones and drive,” he said.

Two women who work with Jairo Paredes’ mother at the Union City Board of Education were among those who waited up to an hour to express condolences.

“It’s just unconscionable,” said one of the women, who did not want to give her name.

Sonia Delgado, the women said, doted on her grandchild and festooned her cubicles with photographs of Angelie.

“She was her pride and joy — her only grandchild by her only son,” the first woman said.